Is Your Mutual Fund the Right One for You? -

Home
>
Investing
>
Is Your Mutual Fund the Right One for You?

Is Your Mutual Fund the Right One for You?

Mutual Funds are considered to be one of the best investments one can get hands on. They're very flexible and cost-effective. An excellent investment for people with restricted knowledge, time or, money.

For beginners, who might have a perplexed expression on their faces at the mention of mutual funds; let me first acquaint them with what the mutual funds are all about.

A mutual fund is a financial instrument that enables a group of investors to pool their money together. There's a fund manager who takes care of the pooled money and invests them into specific securities (stocks or bonds). Investing in mutual funds basically means buying shares of the mutual fund and becoming a shareholder.

Having read this, you may have now decided to buy a mutual fund. But you've over 10,000 mutual funds to choose from. So how do you make sure that the one you've picked up is the right one?

For those who're new to this investment thing, let me apprise you with 'load' and 'no load' mutual funds. 'Load' is basically a commission that has to be paid to the broker when you buy the fund while 'no load' mutual funds are free from such commission hassles, as they're sold directly by the investment company.

It's best to consult an investment counselor before plunging into this venture. These finance mentors will charge a certain fee from you. They get no commission from the firms. Getting paid from their clients, these counselors make sure that you get the best out of any deal you make. Hence, you're sure of getting a reliable advice from your counselor. And obviously, they'd always advise you to go for 'no load' mutual funds. Why?

Well, it goes like this. 'Load' mutual funds are sold by brokers who get paid by the firms. Right? So, I don't see any reason why they'd be concerned whether you make or lose money. They're only interested in persuading you to buy funds often, so that they can relish their rewards from the firms. Moreover, 'load' mutual funds consist of front-end charges, back-end charges, or deferred charges. Quite loaded!

Any savvy investor would certainly ensure that all of his/her investments are worthy. The investors get to choose the funds on their own, the way in which it happens with the 'no load' mutual funds, as they are free from charges.

However, at the end of the day, the presence or absence of a broker has got nothing to do with the success of your investment. It's actually the advice you get from your counselor that really matters. A well-planned decision and a loyal advice on when to buy or sell are vital for securing a bright financial future. So, keep your mind wide open and invest! Good luck!

James Marriott is a finance writer with more than 15 years of experience in writing financial content, including those related to credit cards, mortgages, stocks, investments, and funds. He has been with RNCOS, a premier financial writing services company, for 2 years as head of financial writing. He is also a regular financial columnist with renowned business journals. For your comments on the article and further financial assistance, please contact our staff writer at info@rncos.com.

In The News:

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do%3Fid%3D14787%26formato%3DHTMLcid=1254949376ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNHtU8AtIYHJIOutZoF_tTcXfaI5SAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=vzwKu8HG02UJimgurl=www.mercopress.com/ImgNoticias/Biodisel.jpg width=80 height=64 alt= border=1brfont size=-2MercoPress/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL613947020081008cid=1254949376ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNH5Xloya72Yvx2MmaJ9wYxioIeYfgFACTBOX-bInvesting/b in Africa: Land and agriculture/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fReutersnbsp;-/font nobr6 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Oct 8 (Reuters) - Soaring food prices, supply fears among import-dependent countries and rising demand for biofuels have driven up binvestment/b in b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7655042.stmcid=1254949376ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNEO57vxY73zZnejapJdRlkTDBgYVgUN urges global biofuel rethink/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBBC News/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1254949376hl=ennobrall 242 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/veteran-emerging-markets-manager-launches/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257BA4534567-5D21-44A5-839C-0C4D79308824%257D%26dist%3Dhpprcid=1255164196ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNG8w6kRsdKi1RuLGEIrKeNvB2_g5QVeteran Emerging Markets Manager Launches Victoria 1522 Fund/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMarketWatchnbsp;-/font nobr14 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Considered one of the pioneers in emerging markets binvesting/b, Josephine Jimenez, CFA, has been binvesting/b in this asset class since 1988. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/markets.aspx%3FID%3DBD4A858547cid=1255164196ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNEQbzQcGqaRr4Hztv09evFoxWoBfQThere have been quitea few bumps/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBusiness Day/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1255164196hl=ennobrall 6 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.betfirms.com/betting-on-the-nfl-like-investing/cid=1255100147ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNHLLL61VahGrQaxAAzRmwjEA9fgzQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=vvN6N-ZUEakJimgurl=www.betfirms.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/04_03_1-stock-market-prices_web-300x200.jpg width=80 height=53 alt= border=1brfont size=-2BetFirms/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.betfirms.com/betting-on-the-nfl-like-investing/cid=1255100147ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNHLLL61VahGrQaxAAzRmwjEA9fgzQBetting on the NFL Is Like bInvesting/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fBetFirms,nbsp;IAnbsp;-/font nobr10 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Many handicappers make statements comparing NFL betting to binvesting/b, but they never discuss exactly what they mean by it. However, this article will b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/76770cid=1255377298ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNF9EQXQ41N7Zhy_r60wpdGVrpARCgRetirement Income bInvesting/b and Your Portfolio/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fAmerican Chronicle,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobr16 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Nowhere on your statement can you find numbers that report your net binvestment/b, your total working capital, or your true asset allocation. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/10/07/business/tom_mills/doc48e99daa223a4826796578.txtcid=1255377298ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNEda5MlETk2DRaOUNAFJddyIqAKZQAn open letter to investors:/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrNapa Valley Register/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1255377298hl=ennobrall 3 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.dividend.com/blog/%3Fp%3D1874cid=1254771144ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNEzL174ceBR7h4siM31nKJ0sxUfgAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=e8B-xzh48GgJimgurl=www.dividend.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/storypics/money-bills.jpg width=80 height=58 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Dividend.com/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iTHQpRw9waGiHQoOfBHIjDufm6KQD93L1VG01cid=1254771144ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNEboB1T5A02wRg7XKgTKaSMyd3pjgAllianz binvesting/b $2.5B in Hartford Financial/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fThe Associated Pressnbsp;-/font nobrOct 6, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1CHARLOTTE, NC (AP) — Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. said Monday it will receive a $2.5 billion binvestment/b from Allianz SE. The Hartford, Conn. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D9129303cid=1254771144ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNEXpSsV_btpjY56kc2-3kn8Y8Uj4gAllianz binvesting/b $2.5B in Hartford Financial/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWTNH/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1254771144hl=ennobrall 237 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://blogs.wsj.com/wallet/2008/10/07/loose-change-10708/%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsjcid=0ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNFAGgshJyP37CHbQ7gG_V9OKYe27wimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=rNNoIzPX8xoJimgurl=s.wsj.net/media/wii_art_200h_20081006192424.jpg width=80 height=60 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Wall Street Journal Blogs/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://blogs.wsj.com/wallet/2008/10/07/loose-change-10708/%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsjcid=0ei=clPsSMG6B4_u6gOto9CCCQusg=AFQjCNFAGgshJyP37CHbQ7gG_V9OKYe27wThe Wallet covers the latest personal finance and binvesting/b news b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fWall Street Journal Blogs,nbsp;NYnbsp;-/font nobr16 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Has a glossary, some tools and primers on binvesting/b. And some quirky content, like how a Nintendo Wii can teach you about binvesting/b. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

investing - Google News